What do I even know about AI?

My experience with “machine learning” is very limited. I’ve built a few systems using naive bayesian classification, decision trees, and clustering. I have a preference for unsupervised learning systems, but usually work with data sets that are too small for that.

I do not consider myself knowledgable enough to provide a technical answer, but I will be happy to address the principle thesis of your question.

Let’s teach computers to classify us based on our body type. Surely, this will provide immense benefit to the gay community.

I actually built a “dumb” classifier for the gay cliques census. I’m too lazy to look at the code, but there’s, like, 30-dimensions of data and almost 2-million rows of data. Definitions are reinforced by people who take the survey, additional data is gathered from people who use the definition tool, and negative feedback is used when people disagree with their classification.

Super basic machine learning system.

All thats missing is a piece on computer vision to assess photos for these dimensions.

Its possible, but why would you do that?

The chart above shows average number of sexual partners for non-monogamous survey responses. (Meaning, folks who didn’t have just one sexual partner in a six month period). Its ordered by least sexually active group to most.

What is surprising is the addition of a new clique, “Pig.” While I have a lot of data on people who identify as pig, the body type varies so greatly that they have not appeared on the live infographic. The only defining constant for pigs is how sexual they are, with the most sexual partners in 30 days of any group.

The chart above shows average number of sexual partners for non-monogamous survey responses. (Meaning, folks who didn’t have just one sexual partner in a six month period). Its ordered by least sexually active group to most.

What is surprising is the addition of a new clique, “Pig." While I have a lot of data on people who identify as pig, the body type varies so greatly that they have not appeared on the live infographic. The only defining constant for pigs is how sexual they are, with the most sexual partners in 30 days of any group.

The data presented represents (currently) over 80,000 survey responses from gay men around the world.

The “Definer” tool calculates the euclidean distance of your stats against the average states of every clique. The shorter the distance, the closer you are to the average body type of that clique.

The tool was actually designed to drive viral traffic to the census by using a “triggering” CTA like Define Me (I also tested What am I? and Where do I belong?). The tool generated (in a peak month) almost 300 facebook shares a day, and also helped me refine results when people felt they were incorrectly defined.

The tool is accurate for physical attributes, but identity in the gay community is more than how much body hair you have. Ultimately, if you identify as a Bear, Bull, Twink, or a Turtle you are that. And nobody can tell you otherwise.

People of Color are underrepresented in the bear community because bears are mostly into other bears and the most self-identified bears are white. (Source: gay cliques census, 2/3s of bears and cubs are into their own type; >80% of self-identified bears are white).

Most bears are white. Most bears are into other bears, who happen to be mostly white guys. So it makes sense that the bear community would cater to its majority audience…except that the bear community was originally designed to be inclusive.

How bad is it?

Bearracuda proudly states that they’re the largest attended bear dance party and most prolific gay dance event in the US. Despite this, they don’t use people of colour in their promotions.

The top dating apps for bears, scruff and growlr, don’t use people of colour in any of their app screenshots, ads, or promotions. Some bear dating sites, like Bear411, won’t even allow people of colour (particularly asians) to join their site.

The biggest bear runs in the world, Lazy Bear, TBRU, and Ptown Bear Week don’t use people of colour in their ads, promotional flyers, or websites.

Correction 5/27: TBRU has used people of colour in previous years’ flyers. Thank you, J Larry for pointing this out! I’m sorry for not digging deeper.

Without some representation in bear-centric media, the bear community sends a strong message that people of colour are not welcome.

But, its not all bad. There are some very prominent people in the bear community who do not practice discrimination against skin colour and even include us in their work.

Where the Bears Are has always had a varied cast of bears representing different ethnicities (like me), Beach Bear Weekend is a new bear run that uses people of colour in their promotions, Bear Invasion has a balanced representation of ethnic minorities (like me).

People of colour are underrepresented by the bear community, but we can change that by supporting bear parties, events, and media that is inclusive.

People of Color are underrepresented in the bear community because bears are mostly into other bears and the most self-identified bears are white. (Source: gay cliques census, 2/3s of bears and cubs are into their own type; >80% of self-identified bears are white).

Most bears are white. Most bears are into other bears, who happen to be mostly white guys. So it makes sense that the bear community would cater to its majority audience…except that the bear community was originally designed to be inclusive.

How bad is it?

Bearracuda proudly states that they’re the largest attended bear dance party and most prolific gay dance event in the US. Despite this, they don’t use people of colour in their promotions.

The top dating apps for bears, scruff and growlr, don’t use people of colour in any of their app screenshots, ads, or promotions. Some bear dating sites, like Bear411, won’t even allow people of colour (particularly asians) to join their site.

The biggest bear runs in the world, Lazy Bear, TBRU, and Ptown Bear Week don’t use people of colour in their ads, promotional flyers, or websites.

Correction 5/27: TBRU has used people of colour in previous years’ flyers. Thank you, J Larry for pointing this out! I’m sorry for not digging deeper.

Without some representation in bear-centric media, the bear community sends a strong message that people of colour are not welcome.

But, its not all bad. There are some very prominent people in the bear community who do not practice discrimination against skin colour and even include us in their work.

Where the Bears Are has always had a varied cast of bears representing different ethnicities (like me), Beach Bear Weekend is a new bear run that uses people of colour in their promotions, Bear Invasion has a balanced representation of ethnic minorities (like me).

People of colour are underrepresented by the bear community, but we can change that by supporting bear parties, events, and media that is inclusive.

I’m working with The University of Texas School of Public Health on a new research project funded by the National Institutes of Health.

The goal of this new study is to learn how the gay social groups (bears, cubs, twinks, etc) impact the health and HIV/STD risk of gay men. What groups are most at-risk? Could we be tailoring sexual health services better? The results could have a very big, positive impact for our community.

Details are still developing, but in the coming months I’ll be traveling to Houston to work on the project and my census will be published…soon.

Originally posted 2014-05-20 00:42:00

Anonymous asks:

I have always loved bears, a lot a lot a lot. So I was wondering, are there a lot of bears in San Francisco?? Because I would love to have a super sexy bear such as yourself or one of your pups. That would make my life. ^_^

Big pup and I don’t identify as Bears. Physically speaking, we are more like Bulls than any other gay subgroup. Lil’ pup is a gym bunny.

Bears account for roughly ~8% of the gay population in any given location, but they are most common in Herndon, VA (+40% more common), Indianapolis, IN (+35%), and Phoenix, AZ (+21%). San Francisco is average for Bear population density. Given that Bears are overwhelmingly into other Bears, you will have the best chance in a city with more Bears than average.

I have always loved bears, a lot a lot a lot. So I was wondering, are there a lot of bears in San Francisco?? Because I would love to have a super sexy bear such as yourself or one of your pups. That would make my life. ^_^

Big pup and I don’t identify as Bears. Physically speaking, we are more like Bulls than any other gay subgroup. Lil’ pup is a gym bunny.

Bears account for roughly ~8% of the gay population in any given location, but they are most common in Herndon, VA (+40% more common), Indianapolis, IN (+35%), and Phoenix, AZ (+21%). San Francisco is average for Bear population density. Given that Bears are overwhelmingly into other Bears, you will have the best chance in a city with more Bears than average.

So, I took the gay clique census and it labelled me as an otter. From what I have seen, otters are tall, gairly hairy, and very slim. I am short (5'4 tall), muscular (160lbs, which on 5'4 shows BMI to be considerd 'overweight' even though my weight is due to muscle mass and not fat), and hairy. I notice that the census doesn't differentiate between weight that is muscle or fat. Can that be made an option? I believe it make several results more accurate.

But, if you look carefully at the data visualization, you might see this:

As you’ve already explained, BMI is flawed and doesn’t take into account ratio of fat to muscle. That’s why I’m calculating VOLUMETRIC DENSITY!!!

This is the formula the US Marines use to check body composition. The higher your volume to weight ratio, the more body fat you have. Volume is calculated as a cylinder where the circumference is given waist size. Its not perfect, but its better than asking people to self select as “fat” or “muscled.”

Originally posted 2013-11-18 05:22:47

Anonymous asks:

So, I took the gay clique census and it labelled me as an otter. From what I have seen, otters are tall, gairly hairy, and very slim. I am short (5'4 tall), muscular (160lbs, which on 5'4 shows BMI to be considerd 'overweight' even though my weight is due to muscle mass and not fat), and hairy. I notice that the census doesn't differentiate between weight that is muscle or fat. Can that be made an option? I believe it make several results more accurate.

But, if you look carefully at the data visualization, you might see this:

As you’ve already explained, BMI is flawed and doesn’t take into account ratio of fat to muscle. That’s why I’m calculating VOLUMETRIC DENSITY!!!

This is the formula the US Marines use to check body composition. The higher your volume to weight ratio, the more body fat you have. Volume is calculated as a cylinder where the circumference is given waist size. Its not perfect, but its better than asking people to self select as “fat” or “muscled.”

Originally posted 2013-11-18 05:22:47

Anonymous asks:

About your census project, can you please include some metrics on race? As a gaysian, I feel regularly disenfranchised wherever I go, so it would be really interesting to see where I fall in your survey's "Most Likely Appreciated" section. It really hit me because as a twink, the section said Melbourne would be a good place to be, but common knowledge and research into sexual racism shows that Asians are on the bottom of most white Australian's lists.

I have data on race, but haven’t released it yet. Spoiler alert: it’s very controversial.

I won’t be doing a racial preference analysis, because that’s been done several times and it’s pretty clear that white gay dudes are most desired. Being a gay man of color cuts your chance of being “desirable” by 75%. I am too lazy to Google this study for citation.

I will be releasing sexual activity by clique affiliation and race soon. Despite being subject to sexual racism, gay men if color get laid way more than their white counter parts. Especially Pacific Islanders, who have the most sexual partners of any racial minority.

This is not new information. The SF sexual health council does a yearly study on gay men with nearly identical results to my online survey. Again, I’m too lazy to cite a link right now. I’m on my phone. I’m sorry.

Eventually I’ll have enough data to express affiliation with gay cliques by race. There is a theory that Asians are less likely to identify as bear…but initial data says this only happens in regions where Asians are a minority. (Interesting!)